Rise of the TMNT - Insomnia
by roxygoth
Summary: Insomnia. Leo had no idea why he'd developed it but he had. Now he had to spend most of the night trying to get to sleep, which was not helped by Splinters whistles, Raph's and Mikey's soft snores and Donnie's clang-clanging all night. Honestly the soft-shell seems as determined to avoid sleep as Leo was to get it. Now if only he could figure out why...
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, hope you guys enjoy this little story. There is no canon base for this story [as far as I know] I just thought it would be a nice venue to explore.**

 **I do not own TMNT – Any incarnation – in any way shape or form.**

Once again Leo couldn't sleep. It was now two in the morning and it might as well be 10 in the morning for how awake he was. He couldn't understand it. He'd had a glass of water, read for a little bit. Counted specks on the 'ceiling', everything he could think of to try and somehow get to sleep.

As the clock stuck quarter past, Leon gave a frustrated groan and got out of bed. Maybe another glass of water would help.

He did a slight double take when he got out his room and saw the light still on in the living room. Instantly he pricked his ears up [metaphorically of course] and listened. He could hear Raph's snoring [not that that was a hard challenge – he sounded like a train], Mikey's soft snores and finally Splinters faint little whistles.

Only one turtle left then.

Leo rolled his eyes, wondering what brilliant invention was keeping his brother up, before his thoughts suddenly snapped into place. The light was coming from the living room. Not Don's lab. Which means it [surprisingly] was not an invention keeping Don up, and as Leo couldn't hear the TV or the faint sound of headphones he was more than curious as to what the soft-shell was actually doing in there.

After connecting those thoughts in his head, Blue jerked back to reality and headed to the living room to discover exactly that.

He stopped in the doorway and observed the scene. Purple was sitting on the sofa staring into space, with his hands linked, supporting his chin.

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer."

Leo grinned upon hearing his twin's dry voice and bounded over, leapt over the back of the sofa and sat next to his brother. "No thanks. You'd break the camera."

Donnie gave a dry chuckle and asked. "What are you doing up?"

"Insomnia. You?"

A pause and then. "Thinking."

"Ah." Leo leaned back into the sofa. "So, let's hear it then. What fantastic invention have you come up with this time? As long as it's not another shock collar, I'm happy-"

"-It's not a shock collar. Or a helmet. Or a safety-suit."

There was another pause while Leo waited for a further explanation. When non was fore-coming he suppressed the urge to sigh and said. "I'm not a mind-reader, Donatello. What have you-"

"-Nothing. I'm not in the process of coming up with anything new."

"Oh." Leo looked at his twin, trying to get some sense of what was bothering him. "Fair enough."

There was another long silence, during which Leo took the opportunity to go get the water he originally come in for. As he was filling up the glass, he heard from the doorway. "Can I ask you something?"

Leo switched the tap of and turned round. Donnie was standing at the doorway, arms folded, looking straight down at his feet. Leo shrugged and said. "Go for it, bro."

"I-" Donnie cut himself of and cleared his throat. "What I was wondering was…do you…geez this is difficult…" He put a hand across his forehead and went quiet.

By now Leo was a little concerned, but waited patiently. After a couple of seconds he lifted the glass to his lips at exactly the same moment Purple said.

"…Do you think – actually never mind." Before turning abruptly and walked away.

Leo immediately followed his brother. "Donnie, wait-!"

The glass of water lay abandoned by the sink.


	2. Late night talks

**Hey! I'm back! Thanks to BakaClare + Datninjaturtle for reviewing the last chapter, and to Kara The Fangirl and Who am i. I'm the Void. For alerting it.**

 **There are references to my fics, Ultimate Remote + We're here for you in this chapter.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer – I stress again there is no canon base for this and wish you to enjoy.**

Leo jogged after his twin, chanting as he did so. "Donnie wait, Donnie wait, Donnie wa-"

Said turtle turned abruptly when he reached the doorway, causing the two to almost bang snouts.

"What is it, Leo?" Donnie said, sounding bored.

Leo, still clutching his snout, glared. "I don't know yet. You haven't told me."

Purple sighed and folded his arms. "Look, it's nothing. Forget I said anythi-"

"I'm not forgetting that you want to talk to me!" Leo snapped and the pair of them froze upon realising they were standing in the doorway only a couple of feet away from their various family members rooms.

One quick mental-conversation later and Donnie had shut the door and the pair of them were sitting on the sofa, Donnie still with his arms folded.

Leo saw this and sighed. "Would you unfold your arms!? I'm TRYING to help you!"

"With what?"

"I don't know!" Leo whisper-shouted, poking his brother in the chest for emapthis. "You won't tell me!"

Donnie sighed. "I know, I'm so irritating, aren't i?"

"Occasionally, yes." Leo said, bluntly, before actually thinking about what his twin said. "Wait – where did that come from?"

"Where did what come-"

"Where did THAT, the whole 'I'm so irritating' thing come from? I never said that – not in those exact words anyway…are you alright?" Leo finished somewhat lamely.

There was a pause during which Don contemplated what to do. Either brush it off, assure his twin he was fine and continue living his life as it was now or…

He sighed. It was now or never.

"Actually…no. I'm not really alright I suppose."

"Why?" Despite the fact Leo was technically younger, his protective brother instincts kicked in. "What's going on? Is there anyones ass I need to kick?"

Donnie chuckled dryly. "You might find that a bit difficult. Considering I'm fairly certain that what I'm suffering from is just a general feeling of uselessness."

Leo opened his mouth to ask 'what do you mean?' again, before closing it.

"Well…I mean, I know I'm not technically useless. I build thing – amazing things to boot – and let's face it without me you lot would be dead. But…oh jeez. Look, I'm just going to come out with it – do you guys actually like me?"

Thrown by the question, Leo failed to process it's true importance, saying brightly. "Of course we love you, Don! You're our brother – my twin –"

"No!" Don said, firmly, adjusting his position so he was looking straight at Leon. "I know you love me. You have to love me, we're family - I think it's contractually required - what I mean is do you like me?"

Leo paused, maybe it was being awake at god knows what time in the morning, but his brain wasn't as sharp as it usually was.

Seeing his twin's confusion, Don face-palmed and said through gritted teeth. "It's really not that difficult a concept, Leonardo. If we were not related would you still want to hang out with me? Or even be around me?"

Leo scrunched his fore-head at that, wondering what had led his Purple to think so lowly of himself that he had to wonder if they would want to be around him.

Unfortunately Purple seemed to take his silence another way entirely. "You know what forget it."

Just as Don was getting up Leo's brain jerked into gear and he grabbed his twin's elbow and yanked him back on the sofa. "Don't! Sorry, I zoned out. Didn't mean to. Look, of course we like you. Well, okay let's talk about me. I DO like you Donnie. You know why? Because you're you."

Don raised an eyebrow, and realising it sounded a bit like a stock answer, Blue hasted to expand. "What I mean is, you are nice Don. You are!" He insisted when Don scoffed. "Sure you get a little exasperated sometimes and want to be left alone, but I do think part of that comes with the territory of being a soft-shell. That and you never social you know…before."

There was a little pause while they both contemplated the past, then Leo carried on. "But we – I – don't care. You're patient when dealing with Mikey, he really looks up to you and thinks you're cool. You help Raph when he needs it, and you help me with training and explain things. I know you get annoyed with Splinter sometimes - like with the Ultimate Remote incident – but the pair of you do actually get on and he loves you to death-"

"He loves all of us to death." Don said, in a dead-pan manner. "Without us his life would not be complete. We are the moons to his Jupiter."

There was a beat, then Leo said. "Rather an odd way of putting it, but I see what you're getting at. Er…what was I doing? Oh yes – pep talk! You are really intelligent and yes you can be a bit arrogant about it at times but you're not properly, like, aloof. You are considerate – as evidence by when you made us those gifts, which I know went a little bit…wrong side up, but we fixed that in the evening didn't we? And the fact you even think to fix things up and invent things t help us says an awful lot about you really. You are using your 'powers' for good, so to speak. And…and…look, basically what I'm trying to say you are awesomely intelligent, have a good – if dry – sense of humour and do actually, depite what you – or ayoe else say sTin Man, you DO have a heart, you hear me?" At the end of his speech, Leon shot his brother a mock-stern look.

Don gave a muffled laugh and said. "Okey, I get it. I'm amazing." He grinned brightly, before clearing his throat and saying. "Thanks, Leo."

Leo grinned back and slung an arms round his brothers shoulders. "Ah no issue. What else are brothers for if not to cheer you up when you're down?"


	3. Oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

**Okay. So as you might have gathered I decided to carry this on, but rather than expand upon the previous two chapters I've decided to make this a story [loosely] about events that happen while Leo's trying [and failing] to get to sleep.**

 **Thank you to Cheetachan, BakaClara, The-Fourth-Queen and DatNinjaTurtle for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **So first up, hope you guys are in the festive mood!**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer.**

This is officially ridiculous Leo thought as he stared up at the ceiling. 4 hours he'd been trying to get to sleep now and had he succeeded? Had he shell.

He sighed and turned over. Maybe facing the wall would help.

Just then he heard footsteps outside. Leo gave a deep sigh, recognising them to belong to Donnie. Hopefully he was getting more sleep than himself.

Suddenly there was a quiet knock at the door. Leo paused, furrowed his brow and sat up. "Yes?" He said, somewhat hesitantly. It wasn't often his brothers came knocking on his door in the middle of the night.

Said door creaked open and Donnie's face poked round it. "I'm taking it I'm not disturbing you?"

Leo made a show off looking around the room. "No, I'm fairly certain I'm free now. It is only 3AM after all." He yawned. "What is it, Don?"

"I wondered if you wanted to come with me to get a tree."

There was a pause during which Leo looked at his twin like he'd lost his mind. After a couple of seconds he shook his head and said. "Sorry?"

Donnie rolled his eyes, shut the door and sat on the edge of his twin's bed. "It's nearly Christmas-"

"-I'm aware. What with the light, the songs and the abundance of Santa Clauses popping up everywhere." Blue trailed off upon seeing Purple's expression. "Sorry. Do carry on."

"As I was SAYING, it might not had escaped your notice that Mikey wants a tree."

Leo nodded. The youngest had been harping [pun totally intended] on about it since he saw April's at the beginning of December.

"Well, I spoke to Pops and he said I was welcome to go and get one. Provided someone goes with me so I'm not kidnapped along the way-"

"-And as your twin I get the honour?" Blue finished, with a grin. "Brilliant." He threw the covers back and gave a wide grin. "In the words of Mikey – or rather Mean Girls – c'mon Loser, let's get going."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You just HAD to go for the biggest didn't you?" Leo said, harshly as he adjusted the massive tree on his shell.

"But of course." Don said, from behind him. "Michael would be disappointed otherwise."

Blue personally thought, considering the pain in his shoulders, that it might had been worth disappointed Orange but then immediately dismissed the thought as selfish. "…Who even carries a chainsaw on them anyway?" He said, out loud.

"It wasn't on me. It was on my bo-staff. I thought it might come in useful someday and I was right. Now would you stop complaining and move!?"

Leo let out a loud groan and carried on lugging the tree through the streets. It was too big to leap across rooftops with and stupidly Don hadn't brought the battle-shell with him. "It's your own stupid fault we're in this position to begin with. Why couldn't you had done this last week!?"

"You mean 'we'-"

"-Whatever!"

Now it was Don's turn to sigh. "At least we're nearly there. And it could be worse."

"Yes. We could be in the situation where we're carrying a seven-foot-at-least tree across the distance of at least 17 football fields while dressed in trench-coats and fedora caps while desperately hoping no one chooses 4:30 AM as the perfect time to look out their window." Leo said, completely deadpan.

Despite the fact he knew his twin couldn't see him Don shot his brother a glare. "Shut up Leo. Look, we're here."

"Great." The pair of them dumped the tree and put their hands on their hips. Leo stretched and felt his shoulders pop. "So then. How are we going to get it down the man-hole cover then, Genius? Cut it up?"

Don gave his brother his second glare in two minutes. "Shut up. Here, I have an idea. Open the manhole." Leo did so. "Now, get down there and I'll pass it down to you."

Blue went to protest, then stopped short instead looking up at the heavens. He hoped Mikey would appreciate this.

One quick leap down later and he was standing in the sewer, calling up the man-hole. "Whenever you're ready Donnie. We've only got the rest of the night. Literally."

"Right. I'm in position. One, two, three – catch!"

"Cat-!" Leo got cut off as the top end of the seven-foot tree nearly took his eye out. "DONNIE!"

"Shut up!" Said turtle snapped, while trying to force the bottom end of the tree down the man-hole. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

"You're taking my teeth out! Watch it for cryin' out loud!"

"Got it! Just angle it a bit…"

Leo gave his deepest sigh yet while edging the tree a bit. How were people sleeping through this?

"Got it!"

Blue screamed and dodged as the tree suddenly fell down, nearly crushing him in the process.

"Sorry 'bout that." Purple said, as he leapt easily frown. "I thought you had it." From the sewer floor Blue sent his brother a very impressive death glare.

"…Help me up."

Eventually after a lot more shuffling, arguing and general incompetence they managed to get the tree into the lair.

"Okay." Leo said, leaning against the chair. "Where are we going to stick it now – you know what don't answer that."

Don grinned and said. "Thankfully I'm one step ahead. I 'acquired' a tree-base. Help me put it in."

"The things I do for you. I tell you what I hope Mikey bloody well appreciates this. Why couldn't you get Raph to help you? It's not like he'd say no."

"He was asleep." Purple said simply.

Leo took a moment to process this then, while Don's back was turned, shook his fist at the ceiling. Thank you insomnia. Thank you so bloody much.

Thirty minutes later the tree was secured and Purple and Blue were admiring their handiwork. "All it needs is some light and stuff." Blue said.

"We'll unleash Raph and Mikey on it in the morning. Now-" Purple yawned. "I think we might be able to salvage an hour or two of sleep. Night." And with that he turned and walked off.

Leo blinked before following his twin.

Maybe now he would be able to sleep.

Yeah and maybe pigs would fly.


	4. New Years woe's

**Hey! I'm back! Hope you all had a good Christmas and have a happy new year too.**

 **First off Thank you to Cheetachan, BakaClara + DatNinjaTurtle for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **This is another chapter focusing on Leo and Donnie. If anyone had any suggestions for future chapters involving either Donnie or anyone else that isn't slash, I'm happy to hear them.**

 **See chapter 1 for disclaimer and let's crack on!**

It was three AM. Donnie yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes. He was so tired. He'd been working on this…annoying drill for the past three nights and it didn't look like it was coming out of Beta any time this side of 2018.

Deciding to call it a night Purple went to get a glass of water before actually _going_ to bed. If he was lucky he might be able to salvage three hours of sleep.

Coming out his room he was slightly mystified to hear the TV coming from the living room. Who else apart from him would be mad enough to be up at 3AM-

Ah. That's who.

Rolling his eyes slightly Don walked towards the living room. "Leo, what are you doing?"

At first he thought his brother hadn't heard him, but then Blue said. "Take an educated guess, Donnie."

"Well I can tell your watching TV, but why at 3AM."

"Cos I can't bloody _sleep_ that's why."

"Why?"

Leo gave an exaggerated shrug. "Who knows?"

Don looked at the kitchen before shaking his head and sitting on the sofa next to his twin. "Alright, let's hear it. What are you thinking about?"

"Do I have to be thinking about something?"

"Well…yes. Otherwise your brain wouldn't be working and you'd be dead. Now let's hear it."

Leo sighed, crossed his legs and leaned back into the sofa. "It's nothing major. I was just thinking about next year. Like what'll happen and stuff."

"Well, unless I invent a time machine – which isn't going to happen – then we don't know."

"Yeah, but we could theorise."

"Okay then. What's your theory?"

There was a long-ish pause while Leo thought about this question. Just at the moment Donnie was close to strangling him, he finally said. "Well. I suppose it's nothing really."

Donnie fought down the urge to hit him and said, though gritted teeth. "It must be something Leonardo."

Perhaps picking up on his twins tone Leo said. "Well, nothing will really change will it? We'll still be down here. You'll still invent. Mikey will still draw. Raph will still knit. Splinter will still watch TV. What'll change?"

Donnie considered. "Well, you never know. April might get a boyfriend."

There was a beat, then Leo nodded. "True. She could. It just…seems so…stupid. Humans are up there making New Year resolutions most of them won't stick to and here we are unable to change our life. It sucks."

Purple frowned and leaned back into the sofa. "Well, that's rather a pessimistic view of it. Humans try to change their life, but at the end of the day they are creatures of habit. And while, yes, it is difficult for us to change our life in any…typical way we can make small changes. I can make things and fix things. Raph can knit and keep us all motivated. Mikey can draw and cook and make us remember we're not just ninjas. Splinter looks after us all and – to be fair - has dedicated most of his life to raising us. And you – as well as Mikey – do a good job of keeping us all motivated, not to mention focused. And I'll be honest you do a better job at leading us than Raph does sometimes." Donnie pointed at Leo. "Don't tell him I said that."

Leo crossed his heart.

"What I'm trying to say is we – in small ways – can make our own lives better. Anyway, there's no point really dwelling on it, is there? For all we know we could win the lottery next year."

"We don't do the lottery." Leo said, completely deadpan.

Donnie held his hands up. "Whatever. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Great. Well, I'm tired. See you tomorrow, twinsy." And with that Purple headed off to the kitchen. Leon smiled and resumed watching the TV.


	5. New Years Traditions

**Happy New Year! I'm back, now. I know I don't usually update this quickly, but I was thinking earlier on about New Year rituals and routines and for some reason this idea came to me. It could be considered a head canon.**

 **Not really a traditional plot I'll be honest, more of an extended drabble I think. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **Thank you to BakaClara + Datninjaturtle for reviewing the last chapter.**

Mikey rocked himself back and forth as he stared at the clock in hidden glee.

Click

23:59:00

He rubbed his hands together and when the clock got to the last thirty seconds he counted under his breath. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1- Happy New Year!" He clapped his hands silently, mindful of the fact his brothers were sleeping [or trying to sleep in Leo's case] in their own rooms.

No time to waste, Mikey thought swinging himself out of bed. Time to start the tradition.

Since he was old enough to understand the concept of a new year, Mikey had been drawing a celebratory picture of his family. It was always in the same pose. Left to right, Leo, Raph, Splinter, Donnie and finally Mikey himself.

They were occasionally doing different things. One year he'd drew them all wearing Christmas hats. Another, when Raph had discovered the hidden world of knitting, Orange had drawn them all wearing the jumpers Red had worked so hard to knit for them. Of course it had been his first attempt so they were all lumpy, misshapen and generally awful.

But of course they'd all told him they loved them and wore them anyway. [Donnie only complied after Splinter shot him a truly epic death-glare]

That had been seven years ago. Raph had come on in leaps and bounds since then.

Mikey grinned as he fished his pens out and started sketching. Of course once they met April he'd adjusted it slightly, adding her in next to him. Really, he supposed, if he was doing it properly, he should have her next to Donnie; as there was no denying the human girl was particularly close to him, but Mikey couldn't bring himself to do that. Donnie was his brother at the end of the day – not hers.

He blinked, hand stopping just as he was about to start on Raph. Wow. Where did that come from? He shook his head and carried on in silence, not breaking concentration till the pencil sketch was completely done.

Now for the permanent outline. He grinned slightly remembering last year. Now that had been good. They'd had a party – at Leon's insistence – and of course they had invited April as par for the course.

Well…Mikey chuckled at the memory. She was quite hyper to say the least. She brought over a docking station [which Donnie couldn't understand why as he had one] put her IPod on and they spent a good couple of hours dancing.

Eventually as the clock struck midnight Donnie [The only one who was not completely hyper by that stage – and yes that's including Splinter] wrestled them all in front of the TV and they counted down the minutes to the beginning of 2018. Ah, good times.

By now he was coulering the outlines in. Good job they were all green. It was slightly less time consuming.

Splinter still had all of his past pictures, each one signed by him and with the year on. They had their own box on that big shelf of his along with Raphael's numerous knitted garments, Leo past pictures of Space Hero's and Donnie past test papers. [There were at least three boxes of those. Donnie got through a LOT of test papers]

Hopefully he'd be around to do a lot more of these. He might have to think of ways to make them slightly more exciting though. Maybe different poses and stuff? Eh…he'd think about it.

He finished of the last strokes of his own mask and grinned.

Happy 2019.


	6. How NOT to make Carrot Cake

**Hey! I'm back. First off thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.**

 **Since I asked I've had two requests, and after a bit of thought I decided they kinda worked with each other, so they kind of lead into each other.**

 **For those of your familiar with baking I took some liberties with how baking a cake actually works, but it was needed for the story .You'll see what I mean. [And also maybe potentially science as well…]**

 **So animefairi, this part focuses on your idea and CheetaChan your one is in part 2.**

If there was one thing [or rather three things] that Mikey knew it was his brothers. He knew their routines, their food likes and dislikes and he was getting familiar with their style of fighting as well.

He also knew Leo was staying up late. This was actually quite a recent development, one that had started around the time they'd started fighting more than just each other. [Hey, they were brothers – what do you expect?]

He wasn't exactly sure why. It's not like Leo had any issues sleeping before this, so why they would start now was beyond him.

Just then an idea lit up and Mikey sat bolt up in bed. Of course. It had to be a new training strategy. In case they were needed to fight at night. Of course, it made so much sense.

Mikey grinned, sometimes he thought Leo was as much a genius as Donnie was.

Well. Two could play at that game.

With that Orange leapt out of bed and headed for the living room.

Sure enough Leo was there, lounging on the sofa, watching a recorded episode of Are You Being Framed? Where unsuspecting people were caught on camera.

Obviously it wasn't that interesting because Blue turned it off the minute he saw his brother. "Hey 'Angelo. What's hangin'?"

Mikey grinned and said brightly. "Why, I want to join in this new training thing with you, of course!"

If Leo had eyebrows he'd be raising them. "What new training thing, Mikey?"

"Well, that's what this is, isn't it? You're staying up because you're training yourself for if we're attacked at night?"

Thinking his brother was joking Blue rolled his eyes and said. "Yes Mikey. That's right."

"Cool! Well, seeing as we're meant to stay up I'm gonna bake something, if that's allowed?"

Leo opened his mouth to tell Mikey the truth then closed it again as he thought. Mikey made delicious food. And he was hungry. [He hadn't eaten very much at dinner time] With that in mind he leaned back into the sofa and said, with a smirk. "Funnily enough I'm in the mood for some cake."

"Carrot be alright?"

Leo snapped finger guns at him and Mikey took that as affirmative and headed off to the kitchen.

Blue wiggled back into the sofa and crossed his arms behind his head. This was a turn up for the books. Carrot cake at midnight. Life was good.

Meanwhile in the kitchen Mikey stifled a yawn after getting the ingredients. Then he slapped his cheek and chastised himself. How was he meant to fight bad guys during the night if he couldn't even bake a cake?

With that he brushed his sleeves up [metaphorically of course] and set to work.

Twenty minutes later a perfectly made batter was going in the over. Mikey gave a sigh of relief and sat down. He ran a hand across his brow and felt his eyebrows getting heavier. Maybe just five minutes…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was an half way through a programme that Leo smelt it. Smoke.

'I think Splinter would actually be impressed with me for this' Blue thought as he legged it at full speed to the kitchen. When there he wasted literally no time in throwing open the oven and removing the tray.

However he forgot to account for one thing.

"XXXX!" Leo screeched at the top of his lungs, grabbing his dominant hand and cradling it as the tray clattered to the floor.

The two sounds combined caused Mikey to wake up and say, dozily. "What the shell…?"

Cue sounds from the corridor and Raph, Donnie and Splinter appeared in the doorway, Donnie rocking some nerd glasses and wielding a hammer ferociously and Splinter and Raph looking determined but tired.

Seeing there was no threat, Donnie lowered the hammer. "Alright, who's dying?"

"Michelangelo when I get my hands on him!" Leo growled, still clutching his hand.

Seeing this Raph immediately went into mother hen mode. "Are you alright?"

Leo gave him an 'are you stupid' look and hissed. "Do I _look_ alright to you, Raphael!?"

Splinter took charge. "Let's put your hands under some cold water, my son. Come on."

"I didn't mean to!" Mikey said, as both Raph and Donnie glared daggers at him "I was just trying to stay awake!"

"For what?" Raph asked.

"For this new training thing Leo's been doing!" Mikey said.

There was a beat during which Splinter, Raph + Donnie looked at Leo with varying levels of incredulity.

Leon put his good hand in the air and said. "I have literally no idea what he's talking about."

Mikey's draw dropped and he said, exasperatly. "Oh, sure you do! Why else have you been staying up all these nights?"

"He's suffering from Insomnia." Donnie said, before his twin got a chance to. "Probably brought on from the stress of all this new fighting we've been doing. I mean, let's face it." He said, defensively when Splinter looked at him. "We haven't exactly been trained brilliantly up to this point, have we?"

Splinter nodded. "That is a point. I will meditate upon it. For now I think we shall all retire back to bed and TRY to go to sleep."

On that final word his sons all looked at each other before simultaneously heading towards bed.

Inside his rooms Mikey put his head on the pillow and was straight out.

Donnie actually went back to his lab rather than his room for a little while. He had a drill to get out of Beta.

Leo went to his room and looked at the clock before giving a heavy sigh. At least a couple more hours to kill. More staring at the ceiling it was.

Raph looked at the ceiling, thinking hard. What was insomnia? He got his phone and did a quick bit of research. Ah – an inability to sleep.

He put his phone down and decided to sleep on it. Maybe a way to help his younger brother would come to him tomorrow.


	7. Raph's guide to falling asleep

**Hey! I'm back. Thank you to BakaClara, Cheetachan, animefairi + Datninjaturtle for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who's favourited and followed so far.**

 **See chapter 1 for disclaimer and let's crack on.**

Well. It had taken him two nights but Raph had done extensive research [I.E. googled it] and come up with a couple of ideas for how to help his brothers out with their insomnia.

Now to just get them…

He knocked on Donnie's door before standing back and waiting.

Two seconds later the door was opened and Donnie's face glared round the door at him. "What do you want, Raphael? I'm working on something."

"I want you to come into the living room."

"…Why?"

Red rolled his eyes. "So I can help you and Leo out with your insomnia, duh-brain."

Don's fore-head creased and he opened the door, leaned against the doorframe, folded his arms and explained. "I actually don't have insomnia, Raphie. Leonardo's the one with insomnia."

"But it's midnight and you're still awake."

"Yeah – because you goofballs cause me so much stress in the day it means I can only work on my inventions during the night. And I do make sure to go to sleep no later than 4 AM."

Raph frowned. "We train at 5AM."

"Yeah, that's why I make sure to get at least an hour in." While Raph was still processing the fact that Don sometimes functioned with one hour of sleep Purple decided the conversation was over and shut the door on him.

"…Yeah…well – we'll discuss it another time then!" Raph ran a hand across his brow. One brother down, one to go.

He turned round and jumped slightly when he saw Leo leaning casually against his door. "…How long have you been there?"

"A little while." Leo said, vaguely. "So-" He changed the subject. "…You really think you can help me sleep?"

Raph grinned widely and said. "Yeah! I have a couple of ideas, come with me." And he hurried off down the corridor. Leo paused and debated returning to his room, before shaking his head and following behind.

To say the blue banded turtle was sceptical was an understatement. What had Raphael come up with that he hadn't already tried? Leo had tried hot drinks, hot showers, physical activity, no physical activity, reading himself to sleep, not reading himself to sleep and anything in between. To be honest he was getting a little annoyed with it all.

This was why, when Raph led him into the kitchen, Leo knew what he was thinking. "Oh no. No way, nada, no. This ain't gonna work."

Red looked at him in bewilderment. "You don't even know what I'm gonna do yet!"

"Oh yeah? Let me guess. You're gonna make me a hot drink of either tea, green tea or milk and hope that'll do the trick. Well, I tell you this from trial and error, Raphie - it won't." Blue folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, defiantly.

Raph had a weird sense of deja vu – before realising he was actually thinking about Donnie – and said, as brightly as he could. "Well, maybe so, but have you tried…" He turned round and reached down to Splinters cupboard.

Leo unfolded his arms and stepped towards his brother, gingerly. "Raph, what are you doing? That's Splinters cupboard, we're not allowed to touch it. See?" And gestured towards the sign that said, in hand-written calligraphy.

' _Splinter's stash – Keep out. My sons – this means you!'_

"Ah, don't worry he won't mind if it'll help you out." Raph said, confidently while rummaging around in the back of the cupboard.

Privately Leo seriously doubted that statement – their father was quite protective over things he deemed 'his' - but wisely chose not to mention it.

"Ah-hah!" Raph withdraw his arm triumphantly, holding a stash of hot chocolate in his hand. "Here we go. Dad's not-so-secret stash of Hot Chocolate! If this doesn't do the trick nothing will."

Leo nodded and reached out for it, but Raph held it up high and said. "Ah-ah! I read on line you're meant to calm your mind and that means no thinking about anything. So you sit down and relax and I'll make your drink."

Blue considered arguing, but decided against it and sat down.

Five minutes later a steaming glass of hot chocolate appeared in front of him and Leo lifted it gingerly – mindful of the fact his hand was still recovering and sipped at it.

Raph sat directly opposite him and supported his head on his hands, while watching his brother intently.

After a couple of sips, Leo sighed and said. "Raph, I can't really drink this with you staring at me like a creep."

"Sorry." Raph covered his eyes and Leo took the opportunity to throw the whole thing down his throat, breaking into coughs after he'd done so.

Hearing this his older brother got up and slapped Blue on the back a couple of times.

"Okay so that didn't work." Raph said, once Leo had had a glass of water and returned to his normal shade of green. "But this definitely will. Come with me."

With an air of reluctance Leonardo followed his brother, muttering under his breath all the while. Then he frowned as they were being led into the dojo. "What the…er, Raphie – hate to break it to you, but exercise won't help."

"We're not exercising. We're meditating. C'mon, sit down."

Feeling slightly confused Leo sat down in a meditative pose and waited.

Raph took a deep breath in and said. "Now lie down."

Now Leo was really confused, but did as was asked. "Raph, I'm not sure-" He began.

His brothers held a hand out and shushed him. "Just trust me, Leon. Now close your eyes and picture a field."

To which Blue gave a side-wades look to Red, who couldn't see him because his eyes were closed.

"And everything is calm and you're relaxed and there are sheep and…and." Raph gave a wide yawn before saying, sleepily. "And they're leaping over…over a…hhmm."

There was a couple of seconds while Leo waited for Raph to carry on. When he didn't the slider said. "Er…Raphie? Don't keep me hanging, what are they-" He looked left and stopped mid-sentence when he saw his older brother had fallen asleep.

Leo sighed and got up. So much for the grand plan to help him fall asleep then. He headed to Raph's room, unhooked the hammock and headed back out.

When he reached the dojo he arranged the hammock over his brother trying to make a blanket of some sort – thought it looked fairly ridiculous given Raph's size – and having done that bowed out the dojo and headed back to bed with four and a half hours to kill.


	8. The Automatic Drill 6000

**Hey! I'm back, first of all thank you to CheetaChan, animifairi, BakaClara + Datninja turtle for reviewing the last chapter. We've hit over 20 reviews! [My highest for a Rise story yet!]**

 **A couple of you might have noticed I changed the synopsis – I realised the story was going in a different direction to what I planned, so amended it as necessary.**

 **This also means that not all future chapters will take place d** **uring the night.**

 **Because of this I'm also not taking requests for this story at the minute.**

 **I also haven't been keeping up with new episodes, so I'm not sure if the legendary drill has actually turned up in canon. But I think we can safely consider my fanfiction a bit of an AU.**

 **Long authors note over with – let's crack on.**

 _Clank. Clank. Wwwrrr. Wwwrrr._ A pause. Then a prolonged high-pitched whirring coming from the direction of Donatello's lab.

Leo lay on his bed, a pillow wrapped around his head cursing at the ceiling. Thankfully the...experiment next door drowned his voice out.

How the shell was the rest of his family asleep? He knew Raph and Mikey were deep sleepers, but surely Splinter should have been knocking at the lab door round about now? Then Leo remembered. Earplugs.

How, in that moment, he envied his father.

 _WWWRRR._ Another pause. Then another high-pitched whirring sound. It was at this point Leo decided he had enough and removed the pillow from on top of his eyes. This was officially ridiculous now.

He didn't bother knocking, instead he just swung the lab door open and said, with a good degree of irritation. "Would you stop working, for shells sake!?"

His twin turned round from a brightly lit station, looking a little bit like something out of a horror movie. "Why?" Don said, pushing his goggles up with one hand, while putting down a power-drill with the other. "What's wrong?"

Leo looked at him with thinly-veiled irritance. "What's wrong, Donatello, is that it is now 3 in the morning and you are still up!"

"As are you." Purple said with his usual straight-forwardness.

"I have Insomnia!" Leo snapped, shutting the lab door as he realised their argument was audible for the entire lair. "As I believe we've established! What is wrong with you, Donnie? And don't try to fool me, you've been working all night for…ages now! It's not healthy!"

Donnie blinked and opened his beak, clearly about to argue. Then he seemed to change his mind, shut his beak again and said, slowly. "Well…thank you for being so concerned, Leon, but the reason I've been up late lately is simply because I have been working on this drill." And he moved aside to reveal it.

Leo stepped forward, cautiously. He'd never seen it before. To be honest he'd doubted the existence of it. He had genuinely thought that when Donnie said he was 'working on the drill' it was code for 'I need some peace and quiet from you imbeciles', hark why [he'd thought] it was permanently in beta.

Clearly this wasn't the case. If he was being frank he couldn't really see anything special about it – aside from the fact it was quite big. Actually no, scrap that. It was very big. About the same height as Mikey and about the same width as Raphael, to give some visualisation.

"It looks…lovely." Leo said, lamely, upon realising he'd been staring at it for slightly too long. "Very…silver."

Donnie gave a sharp intake of breath, which Blue knew now was the beginning of a lecture. Sure enough…

"It's not just…silver, Leon. It's the Automatic Drill 6000!" Purple stroked the drill lovingly and said. "It has a multitude of purposes – apart from the obvious one. Not only can it drill through anything – and I mean anything – it has a GP Tracker in it that is linked to my Bo-Staff." Donnie pointed one of the multitude of buttons. "The idea is that I can press this button from anywhere – and I mean anywhere – and the drill will shrink up into the main box bit you can see, fly through the air, pinpoint a weak place of entry from the outside of the building and drill through therefore freeing me- and anyone else with me – from whatever perils we face."

Donnie gave a deep sigh, patted the drill a couple of times and then stepped away with a dramatic. "But no! The stupid thing has a multitude of things wrong with it! The GPS isn't working properly – it can only help me if I get kidnapped in New York – and it's having trouble going all the way though concrete let alone diamond! Ugh. It's useless." And with that he threw himself into his spinny chair, and sulkily spun it round.

Leo frowned and shook his head. "Why does it need to go through diamond?"

"Because diamond is the strongest material in the world – keep up Leonardo!" Donnie said, still spinning.

Blue massaged his fore-head. There was a reason he didn't help his twin in the lab very often. "So it's still in Beta?" He said.

"Yes! And it will be till the end of time at this rate. Ugh. I hate myself."

"Donnie-"

"Okay so I don't actually hate myself. But it's very disheartening. Anyway – that's the long answer as to why I'm up EVERY night."

Leo nodded. "Well…you have to go to bed, Donnie. I'm serious, we don't want you to collapse or anything. I mean, you must be tired."

His twin considered, then nodded. "Yeah…I am." He got up and stretched. "I suppose I better head to bed. Night Leo. Love you."

Leo made a valiant effort [and succeeded, he thought] not to show surprise. "Love you to Don. Night."

With that they both went back to their respected rooms, Leo to fruitlessly try to go to sleep, Donnie to think.

That was annoying. Donnie thought as he shut the door to his room. Leo would come in at the worst moments and now Donnie was alone. Alone with his thoughts.

He looked at the bed and shuddered.

He didn't want to go to sleep. Not now. Not ever preferably but...

He sighed. The best laid plans...if only Leo didn't have Insomnia everything would be fine.

Hhmm. If only he didn't have Insomnia...now there was an idea.

He reached for his phone. He'd need outside help with this one.


	9. A plan is formed

**Hey I'm back! So first off – thank you to Datninjaturtle, BakaClara + animifairi for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **This chapter is kinda a 'setting the scene' sort of chapter.**

 **For those of you familiar with my previous stories this is kinda where the over-all arch of my story for the turtles starts to fall into place. Hopefully you'll see what I mean. When I finish this one I'm planning to post an extra chapter just explaining the chronological order of my previous stories so you have some idea what I'm on about.**

 **I hope that hasn't been too confusing or that I've lost to many of you.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

Donnie had a plan. It was a slightly crazy plan, one that he was sure his brothers [read: Leo] would take exception to, but it was better than having Leo being up every. Single night. For the rest of the foreseeable future.

"Alright losers, listen up." He said loudly as he walked into the living room. Shame they didn't have a door, it would make for a much more dramatic entrance. "I have a plan."

Leo, Mikey and Raph were on the settee watching TV. They looked up with a hint of alarm when their brother spoke, but other than that made no move to lay out the red carpet or anything.

Purple frowned and cleared his throat. "I SAID I have a plan."

Raph and Leo looked at each other. Mikey, taking pity on his brother, said. "What plan, Dee?"

"We are going to get medicine for Leonardo."

Now it was all three of his brothers looked at each other.

Donnie felt his irritation growing. "Look, it's not rocket science. Leo has Insomnia. There is medication that can help him. We're going to get the medicine, and Leo's going to take it." Purple saw the look of alarm on his twin's face and hasted to add. "After I've done some experiments to make it fit for Turtle consumption of course."

"Ok…" Raph leaned forward and linked his hands. "And where are we going to get this medication from? It's not like we can just rock up to a pharmacy and buy some, is it?"

Donnie mirrored his brothers position and said. "Now…this is the part you might baulk at-"

"Baulk?" Mikey asked.

"Dislike. We're going to have to break into a pharmacy – well. The one on Twenty-Sixth avenue to be specific. I spoke to April, she said it's a small, relatively new, pharmacy run by one man in a good area." Seeing the looks on his brothers faces, he said defensively. "Look, it's our best bet. Unless you want to be up forever more?" He aimed the last bit at Leo.

Said brother leaned back into the sofa and said. "I'm not sure, Donnie. It seems a bit mean. What's the pharmacist ever done to us?"

"Well nothing. But that's not the point, Leo! The point is you can't live like this forever, can you? You have to go to sleep at some point and I seriously think you may require medication to do so, after all nothing else has worked, has it? Hot drinks, watching TV, drinking water-"

"Or Hot Chocolate." Raph cut in.

Donnie steamrolled on. "None of its worked! So medication is the next step and if we have to commit burglary to get it then-" He shrugged and looked his twin dead in the eyes. "-So be it."

Leo inhaled sharply, thinking it over. He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. However, he thought logically, his twin was right. If they couldn't buy it legitimately, then taking it was the next best thing, surely? And he was getting a little bit sick of being all up night.

Realising his brothers were all waiting for his verdict, Leo cleared his throat. "Okay we'll do it." His brothers high-fived and Blue held a hand up. "As long as we don't use un-necessary force and we're stealthy. That means no breaking down walls, no 'Booyakasha-ing' and no mad scientist cackles, got it?" He said looking at Raph.

The big guy shrugged. "As long as you don't fall over we'll be good. Shall we go?"

"Not now!" Donnie said, in alarm. "Are you mad? It's only four PM!"

"Yeah, Don;s right." Leo said, linking his hands together. "We'll go at eight. We'll tell dad we're having a go at patrolling the city. And we'll be as quick as we can, deal?"

His brothers all nodded solemnly.


	10. The Heist Part 1

**Hey! I'm back, Thanks you to BakaClara, KaraTheFanGirl, Datninjaturtle + fireworks in the night for reviewing the previous chapter.**

 **Well, here's where the action starts. Hope you all enjoy.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer.**

"Come on!" Donnie yelled, from the living room. "It's 8 o clock! What is _wrong_ with you turtles?" He face-palmed and muttered into his hand. "I knew I should have reminded them ten minutes ago…"

"Where are you going, my son?" Purple jumped upon hearing his Pops voice and turned. Splinter was standing in the kitchen doorway with a cheese sandwich in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.

"Er…we're…" Donnie's mind went blank and he cursed himself inwardly.

"We're going to have a go at patrolling the city." Leo said, walking into the room with Raph and Mikey in tow.

Splinter couldn't have looked more surprised if they'd told him they invited Meatsweats down for a game of cards. "But why?"

Leo shrugged. "Crimes rising. Police are stretched. We scare the shell out of people as a general rule. Maybe if they see us bearing down on them they'll stop."

There was a pause and then. "My sons." Splinter said, gravely. "While I think what you are suggesting is a good idea, you must be careful. You must help people from the shadows. You are ninjas, you cannot help people in the same way the police can."

"Don't worry Pops." Raph said, confidently. "We'll be careful."

With that the four of them set of, all breathing a sigh of relief when they were out the man-hole cover. "Geez, I hate lying to Pops." Mikey said, looking visibly uncomfortable.

Leo gave another sigh and wringed his hands. "Well yeah…but it's just for one night. Right, Donnie?"

Donnie gave a sharp sigh as he felt the other three's eyes on the back of his heads. "C'mon let's go. Sooner we get this over with the better."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ten minutes later they were on the roof of one of twenty-sixth avenue's numerous flats, looking down at the small un-assuming pharmacy.

"So? How are we going to get in?" Donnie asked, lowering his goggles.

Raph gave him a look. "You mean you've brought us all this way without knowing how we're going to get in!?"

"I have been doing other things, Raphael."

"Like what!?"

"Does the smoothie machine ring a bell, Raph?"

Red's cheeks went the same couler as his mask and he glared daggers.

Mikey held his hands up. "Alright, break it up, guys-"

"I could portal us in."

Blue's brothers went quiet and looked at him. For a moment they'd forgotten he was there.

Leo caught their looks and said. "Well, I do have an Odachi sword, don't I? And that will get us in without us being seen and shouldn't set of any alarms?" He looked at his twin for confirmation on that last point.

Donnie thought and nodded.

Leo stood up and motioned for his brothers to do the same. "Well then…" He swung the sword, causing a blue portal to appear. "…Who's going first?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leo leapt out the portal and landed expertly on his feet. "Hey! That wasn't too bad. Come on in the waters fine." He called into the blue glow.

Thirty seconds later his brothers were by his side.

"Wow. Where are we? And don't say pharmacist." Mikey added, seeing Purple about to open his mouth.

Donnie grinned and explained. "We're in the backroom. This is where they keep the stock. Okay…" He removed a piece of paper from his belt and looked at it. "We need Benzodiazepines, Ramelteon, Anti-Depressents-"

"-We do not need Anti-Depressents." His twin said sternly as Raph and Mikey started searching the shelves. " _I_ do not need anti-depressents."

Donnie rolled his eyes and turned to start searching the shelves.

Leo glared at the back of his twins head and grabbed a basket of the top of a nearby stack. He meant to do it with grace and poise, but instead managed to cause the pile to collapse. "Shell!" He hissed as the noise rebounded round the room.

He turned to see the horror on his siblings face. Raph opened his mouth – no doubt to remind Leo to be quiet, when they heard a noise from outside the door.

No words where necessary as they looked at each other and hid.

The shop-owner opened the door and looked around. Seeing the baskets he headed over to them, causing Raph, who was hiding behind one of the shelves to edge further back into the wall. He hissed. The pressure on his spikes was uncomfortable.

The shop keeper, however, seemed to be taking his time, leisurely picking the baskets up and re-stacking them, before taking one more glance around and heading out.

About a minute after the door was closed and the turtles were sure he was not coming back they each unfolded themselves from their hiding places and regrouped in the middle of the room.

"Ah, my shell…" Raph muttered massaging the top of said shell.

Mikey said what they were all thinking. "That was to close."

Leo nodded and said. "Okay, we can't just go around grabbing things off the shelves. Where are the medicines we need, Twinsie?"

As his brothers all looked at him, Purple rolled his eyes and said, with a certain degree of fondness. "Anti-Depressents over towards the back, Ramalteon over by the baskets and Benzodiazepines-" He trailed off a look of pure panic flashed over his face.

With a feeling of dread the other brothers turned slowly to see the shop-keeper standing in the doorway.


	11. The Heist Part 2

**Hey! I'm back, updating a day earlier than expected. Thank you to fireworksinthenight, BakaClara, Cheetahan + Datninjaturtle for reviewing.**

 **This is where the characterisation may slip a little – but not too far I hope. As the rise turtles haven't been in this particular position before [as far as I know] I've taken some inspiration from previous incarnations.**

 **So…four some-what trained ninja turtles verses one dumbfounded shopkeeper. Hhmm…wonder how that's going to go?**

 **Well, we'll see…**

There was a prolonged silence during which the turtles stared at the shop keeper and the shop keeper stared back.

After about a solid thirty seconds of this, Mikey decided to break the ice. "So…hi."

To which the shop keeper gave a high-pitched yell in reply and legged it out the room.

"Hey!" Raph immediately shot after him. "Come back!"

"Raph!" Donnie took off after his brother. "You're scaring him!"

Leo raised his eyes to the heavens as general chaos sounded outside.

Raising his voice to be over-heard above the shouting he said to Mikey, calmly. "Do us a favour Michael. Put all the medication you can see into the baskets. We'll carry them." And with that he hurried off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You're scaring him!" Raph barely registered his immediate younger brother's yell as he chased after the terrified shop keeper.

The man made it to the front reception and skidded to a halt behind the desk.

Donnie's mind quickly made the leap and he screeched at his brother. "Stop him! He's going for the panic button!"

Raph himself was nearly over-come with panic at that point and he had what most people would describe as an out-of-body experience. He saw himself leaping over the desk and grabbing the shop keeper, then pulling him away from the desk and holding him in a tight grip. There was a silence, only broken by the shop keepers gurgling.

He was brought back to earth by the door slamming open. He looked up to register Leo standing next to Donnie, yelling. "What's the alarm for!?"

Donnie raised his voice. "Panic Button!" He pointed at the desk for emapathis.

Leo groaned and face-palmed. "Great, that's just what we need – for cryin' out loud, can you shut him up!?" He snapped at Red, who in turn realised the shop keeper was still twisting, turning and generally making a worrying amount of noise.

Running on automatic by now, he tightened his grip over the poor man's mouth and nose and the keeper went an interesting shade of purple.

Donnie, noticing this, darted forward and, with expert precision, stabbed his bo-staff into his brothers foot, causing Raph to cry out in pain and drop the shop-keeper who fell on the floor desperately gasping for air.

As Red hopped about in the back-ground Don quickly aimed his bo-staff at the shop-keeper, saying, by way of apology to the poor man. "This won't hurt." Before pressing a button and releasing knock-out gas into the man's face.

The keeper gave another gasp, his eyes rolled backwards and he passed out.

"Donnie!" Leo said, in horror.

His twin held his hands up. "Calm down, it's only knock-out gas; now hurry up, we haven't got time for messing about! Raph, for shell's sake, stop hopping about and hurry up!"

As the twins ran towards the backroom, Red muttered a few choice words under his breath and hobbled as best he could after them, his foot feeling like it was on fire.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raph made it into the back room just in time to hear Leo asking. "What's this!?"

Red looked up to see at least five baskets overflowing with various medicine.

Michael wrung his hands and said, shrilly. "You asked me to! Put all the medication in the baskets you said!"

"Well yes, but I didn't mean-" Blue cut himself off upon hearing alarms wailing closer. "Never mind." He said abruptly, spinning round and swinging his sword, creating a massive portal in the process. "Grab the baskets. Now! _GO_!"

Purple, Red and Orange grabbed a couple of basket each and leapt through the portal one by one. As Orange disappeared Blue took one more look around the room, plucked the last two baskets of the floor and threw them through the swirl of blue before jumping in himself.


	12. The Heist Aftermath

**Hey! I'm back. Hope you're all okay.**

 **Thank you to Datninjaturtle, animifairi, BakaClara + fireworksinthenight.**

 **I'll be honest, I'm not sure about this chapter. I had issues with phrasing and stuff.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and see chapter 1 for the disclaimer.**

To say Splinter was surprised when a blue portal abruptly appeared in the living room was an understatement. His surprise lessoned when his sons quickly fell out of it one after the other, landing clumsily on the floor.

"Get your tail out my face, Raph!" Leo snapped.

"I will when you stop crushing me!"

"I think you'll find, Raphael, it's your spikes that are crushing me!"

"I can't breathe!" Mikey wailed from the bottom of the pile, at the exact same time Donnie snapped, with audible pain.

"Would you two STOP bickering and get the shell off my shell!?"

That shut Raph and Leo up rather nicely and they immediately [with a bit of manoeuvring] untangled themselves from each other before helping their respective immediate younger brothers up.

After this charade had ended Splinter [who had just been sipping his drink all the while] took the opportunity to say. "So…am I to take it the patrol went well?"

"The what?" Raph said, without thinking. Mikey quickly stamped on his oldest brothers foot, but by then the damage was done.

There Pops eyes narrowed. "What do you mean 'The what?'"

Instantly all three of his brothers heads snapped to Blue, who sighed and scratched his beak. "Well you see pops…" And proceeded to launch into a brutally honest version of what had happened, but with one major change. He stated that it was his idea to raid the pharmacy; not his twin's.

As soon as he said it both Raph's and Mikey's metaphorical eyebrows shot up and although Raph managed to keep a straight face, Orange couldn't help glancing at Purple to see if he'd own up.

He didn't. Just kept his eyes stubbornly on the ground. Mikey felt a spark of annoyance; his brother could be such a coward at times it was unbelievable.

"-And then we all jumped through the portal and ended up on the floor." Mikey blinked and turned his attention back to Blue, just as he finished his tale.

"I see." Splinter stroked his chin and said. "And what about the CCTV?"

That got his sons attention and even Mikey stopped what he was thinking about to look at the old rat, dumbly.

"The CCTV?" Don parroted.

"I believe it's a camera that films events." Splinter said, dryly. "So that the police can look at them later."

Now all heads turned to Purple who gave a silent gulp and tried to fight the lump in his throat as he said. "I-I forgot…"

Splinter took a deep breath. "I see." There was another silence, then Splinter sighed. "Well. I don't suppose it's like our entire existence is a secret now. Mrs O'Neil knows. Mr Jones knows. Humanity in general knows. Maybe they will be kind to us. Some of them have been."

When he didn't get a reply, the rat said briskly. "It is late. Or very early depending on which way you wish to look at it. I suggest we all retire to bed. Needless to say, training is cancelled."

While Raph, Leo + Mikey cheered, Donnie cleared his throat. "I…think - if you don't mind - I might go to the lab. Start trying to make this medicine…"

"I would prefer it, my son, if you retired to bed." Splinter said, with gentle firmness.

The thought of bed caused a jolt of fear to go though Don's body, and he said, with a strange desperation. "Well – could I just separate the medications then? Just for a starting point?"

His brothers and Splinter looked at him strangely and Purple – realising that he was coming across rather oddly - said abruptly. "Forget it. Never mind. I'll go to bed; start working on it in the morning. Goodnight." And with that the young genius stalked off.

He could sense his family's confusion behind him, but thankfully none of them came after him. He needed to be alone.

He wanted to be alone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'Something is wrong.' Mikey thought as he lay in bed with his hands crossed behind his head staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. Something was wrong – with Donnie he suspected. Well more wrong that usual he meant.

The way he walked off like that…it may seem abrupt, well mainly because it WAS abrupt, but it wasn't Donnie's _style_ of abrupt, if you followed him. Not that that made any sense whatsoever, but all in fairness it was five o clock in the morning. No one has gifted thinking at five o clock in the morning.

However, Mikey realised, he was never going to be able to salvage any sleep if he didn't stop thinking about Donatello. So it was with an in-turtle groan he dragged himself out of bed and to the lab.

Hopefully everything was alright and he was just being stupid.


	13. From Bad to Worse

**Hey! I'm back! Sorry for the delay – this chapter has been giving me a headache. I tried a couple of ways to get the effect I wanted and hopefully fingers crossed I've now achieved it.**

 **First of all thank you to BakaClara + fireworksinthenight for reviewing the last chapter and to everyone who's favourited and followed so far.**

 **Second of all – eek! [Does a happy dance] Drum roll please! One of my fics has been nominated for the TMNT Universal Reader's Choice Award!**

 **The fic is 'Rise of the TMNT – The Universal Remote' and it's been nominated for the category 'Best Rise Universe'. You can probably imagine how pleased I was when I got the PM! [I won't bore you with all the details, but if anyone has any burning questions feel free to PM me!]**

 **Anyway – I felt I had to tell you, what with it being part of this overall grand plot I've got going.**

 **Okay, ridiculously long authors note over with let's crack on with the chapter.**

Donnie lay awake looking up at the ceiling. What could he do to stay awake? He didn't dare risk starting inventing anything for fear Splinter might actually kill him.

He didn't want to fall asleep. If he did the dreams might come back and he didn't want that. He really didn't want that – the first one had been bad enough.

He yawned widely and his eyes sagged. Maybe five minutes. You can't dream in five minutes, can you? With another yawn he reached for his phone and set an alarm for five minutes time.

Sorted. He thought, making himself comfortable. A couple of minutes rest was just what he needed…

 _Knock knock._

Donnie's eyes opened and he groaned. Whoever it was he was going to stab them with the nearest sharp instrument.

 _Knock knock._

"Alright, keep your shell on I'm coming!" Purple snapped, throwing back the bed-covers.

It was Mikey, Raph and Leo standing in the corridor, all looking fairly sheepish.

"What have you broken now?" Donnie said, folding his arms.

Leo gave him a look that instantly made his twin's blood run cold. "You know your alarm you set up in the sewers?"

"The one I spent a month and a half designing and installing with absolutely no help from any of you three? I'm aware of it yes."

"It's going off."

Now his blood seemed to fully freeze. It couldn't be. The alarm only went off when people intruded…

"C'mon brainiac!" Raph grabbed him and the next thing Don knew they were all running through the sewers.

"There!" They all screeched to a halt as Raph pointed aggressively at the end of the West Sewer.

Well. This was one of the weirdest scenarios Donnie had ever seen. Meatsweats, Hypno-Pottamus, Cheery Tomato + Albearto were standing almost directly opposite the turtles, all grinning madly.

"Hello Turtles!" Meatsweats said, brandishing his knife around wildly. His eyes set on Purple and hardened instantly. "Donnie."

Raph put an arm in front of his immediate younger brother. "You ain't getting anywhere near him, creep."

"Oh, aren't I? Get 'em!" The pig yelled over his shoulder.

The next few seconds where a mess of leaping, ducking, portals and good old fashioned punching.

"You think this'll help!?" Meatsweats taunted, suddenly in front of Donnie's face. "You really think this'll get rid of us?" The pig suddenly aggressively grabbed Donnie's shoulder-pads and pulled him up close to his face. "We're after you Donnie-boy. And we'll get you soon enough. You and your stupid brothers. Look-"

He gestured around him and Don turned his head to see Raph fighting Hypno-Potamus, who was laughing as he dodged the blows with ease. Mikey was fighting Cheery-Tomato [and losing rather badly] And Leo? His twin was attempting to fight Albearto via the use of portals and failing miserably.

"One of these days." Purple turned back to Meatsweats, almost mesmerised by his words. "One of these days, Donnie, we will find you. And we will defeat you and there will be nothing – nothing! – you or any of your pathetic brothers can do about it! And I'll tell you what when that time comes we'll enjoy it. Now…"

Purple felt heat singeing his shell and looked down. A giant bubbling cooking pot seemed to grin up at him.

Terror gripped at his heart and he turned the whitest his green skin would allow. No. He couldn't die. Not like this.

"Now we're cooking!" Meatsweats boomed dropping the young turtle un-mercifully.

As the pigs laugh drummed in his ears, Donnie opened his mouth and screamed.


	14. From Bad to Better

**Hey! I'm back, with the 1** **st** **update of February.**

 **Thank you to Cheetachan, BakaClara, fireworksinthenight, + animifairi**

 **Yet again I seemed to have issues with phrasing and stuff with this chapter. It's so annoying. You know when you can see it in your head, but the minute it comes to putting words on paper…**

 **There's a reference to my other fic 'We'll always be here for you', because I don't want to ruin that one I tend to skirt around what actually goes on in it. It might be an idea for you guys to read it though, if you want so you have a clearer picture.**

 **This is a seriously long chapter. I couldn't figure out a natural place for a break so there isn't one and you guys have got a 2,000 words plus chapter. Apologies in advance.**

 **Warnings: Nightmares [congratulations all who guessed], mentions of Meat Sweats and implications of abuse. Also you might cry a little if I'm doing my job right.**

 **Anyway, See chapter one for the disclaimer and let's crack on.**

This is beyond stupid. Mikey thought, as he dragged his feet down the corridor to his brother's room. Donnie will be fine. He'll be asleep, mouth open looking gormless as usual; maybe muttering something about Uranium. There wouldn't be anything wrong with him-

A piercing shriek cut off his thought process and he froze in his tracks. That surely couldn't be…

There was a bang as Raph slammed his door open and leapt out of it, tonfas raised and ready to strike, looking around as if expecting the perpetrator to appear in front of his face spider-man style. After establishing no such thing was going to happen he looked at Mikey and started. "What the shell-"

Another door slammed open and Leo staggered out of it, clearly still half-asleep with his sword raised in the air. "Wha'was'hat?"

Another shriek made Leo's head snap up, his eyes suddenly became focused and his grip on the sword tightened. Donnie.

A soft pattering alerted them to the fact Splinter was awake and heading towards them. "My sons is everything-" The old rat cut himself off upon hearing yet another shriek. Question answered then. Without another word he pushed past his other sons and headed into Purple's bedroom.

Inside was a sight that no parent ever really wishes to see. Donnie was twisting and turning widely, distress clearly written on his face. His fists were clenched like he was trying to fight something, and he was whimpering and muttering nonsense under his breath.

A quick movement behind him alerted Splinter to the fact his other sons had gathered behind him and he held a hand up as Leo moved slightly. "No, my son. Let me." With extreme care and caution he edged towards his second eldest son. "Donatello." He said softly, hoping his voice would be enough to wake him. Or at least soothe him. "Donatello, my son, it's your father." He waited with baited breath to see if the whimpering would quieten down or for any sign his son had heard him at all. When nothing was fore coming, Splinter took a deep breath. Looks like he'd have to do this the hard way…

"My sons shut the door."

He couldn't see them but his parent senses told him his other sons were looking at each other like he'd lost his marbles.

"Why-" Raph began, but Splinter cut him off in a rare moment of temper.

"-Just do as I say, Raphael!"

A bit more whispering followed by a soft click told Splinter his wishes had been obeyed. Looking down at his second-oldest, who was now moving in a way that suggested someone had poured ants down his shell, the rat sighed and flexed his hands hearing a satisfying click as he did so. "Here goes…" He muttered under his breath and reached out to shake Purple awake.

The micro-second his claw made contact with Donnie's shell his second oldest hit out, managing – despite the fact he was definitely asleep – to land a hit directly on Splinters snout.

With a shout of pain he fell backwards against the writing desk his son had managed to salvage a couple of years back.

Awoken by the clatter, Purple bolted upright and looked around the room for Meatsweats before screaming and throwing the covers over his head as the door was thrown open and his brothers came tumbling through it, falling over one another in the process.

"Watch it Raph!"

" _Me_ watch it!? You fell over ME you numpty!"

"You're crushing me!" Mikey wailed from the bottom of the pile.

Enough of this nonsense. Splinter thought as he dragged himself up. "Stop this at once!" He said, while pinching his nose in an effort to stop the bleeding.

The strange sound of their Pops voice got all his sons attention. "You alright Pops?" Raph asked, somewhat warily.

For answer Splinter stopped pinching his nose, allowing a couple of drops of blood to fall on the floor.

Mikey paled. "I'll…get you some sponges or you know a mop…" Before exiting hurriedly from the room.

"…Did I do that?"

The rat jumped as he heard Purple's voice.

Re-pinching his nose Splinter turned round and gave his second eldest a re-assuring smile. "You did. But do not worry, I was prepared for it. The main thing is you are awake."

Donnie didn't seem to hear him, however, to fixated on the blood on the floor. "…I hurt you."

"My son, I am fine-"

"I _hurt_ you!"

"No you-"

"Yes I did, you're _bleeding_!"

Hearing the sheer panic in his second-eldest voice, Splinter edged forward saying, as soothingly as he could given the circumstances. "My son, I assure you I am fine-"

Purple leapt back, shell flat against the wall. "N-no, stay away!"

Mikey came into the room with the sponges just in time to hear this last sentence. He gave a confused look to Leo who gestured to him to leave Pops to it.

Splinter took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. Purple looked at him like he was expecting to be stabbed.

"Donatello, take a breath." Splinter said, calmly yet sternly. Donnie looked at him with worry before hesitantly breathing in and out slowly. His Pops nodded. "That's it. Nice and deeply, there we go…"

When he was sure his son had calmed down a little, Splinter turned his attention to his other three sons. "Raphael, would you get me some water please. Leonardo, we need some rags for the floor and Michelangelo if you would kindly give me those sponges rather than just stand there holding them, that would be much appreciated."

As Red and Blue hurried of to complete their individual tasks, Michael edged forward and held out a sponge for Splinter. "H-here…"

"Thank you." Splinter wiped his nose, placed the sponge on the writing desk and turned to Purple. "See? I am fine."

Donnie nodded and looked at him for the first time. "…The blood will clot and you'll find it difficult to breath for a while, but it's not broken so – you're lucky."

"I am extremely lucky yes, to have sons like you four. Now, what was that all about?"

Donnie twisted his hands together nervously and Splinter could practically feel the anxiety coming off him like waves.

"I…" Donnie trailed off as Raph and Leo came back into the room.

"Ignore them. Raphael – the water please." After Donnie had drained the glass in less than ten seconds Splinter asked again. "What was all that about my son?"

"Nightmare." Purple whispered, looking at the glass like he hoped it would replenish itself.

His father gently took the glass from him and placed it next to the rag. "What sort of nightmare?"

There was a silence Donnie thought back over his dream. "The…the alarm…that I set up here – it was breached by…a couple of our bad guys-"

"Whoa, steady on they're not OUR bad guys. We haven't adopted them or anything." Leo said, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. All he got was one blank look, two annoyed ones and a sharp dig in the ribs from Mikey, who hissed.

"Dude, _timing_." To him.

Splinter shook his head and turned back to Purple. "Which bad guys?"

"Er…there were four...I'm not sure, the only one I remember is Meat-Sweats-"

"What, him again?" Raph exploded.

Now it was Leo's turn to jab someone in the ribs and Raph clamped his mouth shut when he realised what he just said. However by then the damage was [yet again] done and Splinter narrowed his eyes at them.

"What do you mean 'again?'" He said in a voice that might as well have been made of ice.

Hearing his brothers chorus of 'er', 'well-' and 'you see's made the guilt Don felt twist at his insides even more and he found himself bursting out. "I had a nightmare about him a couple of months back, after I was kidnapped by him, but it's fine, I'm over it-"

"-My son, if you were indeed 'over it' we would not be having this conversation!"

"Ugh! I'm _fine_! I'm telling you I. Am. _Fine_!"

The old rat opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again upon realising it would be fruitless. He took a breath and said instead. "Get out and close the door." To Red, Blue and Orange who promptly followed his instructions.

My son. You do not have to be strong all the time, you know." He saw Purple's shoulders hunch, and realising he was on the right tracks, said with extra-special care. "Nightmares are nothing to be ashamed off. Everybody has them. You would not…" He trailed off. He'd been about to say 'would not be human without them' but there was an obvious flaw with that reasoning. "You would not have a beating heart or a working brain without them." He said instead. "Nightmares, by my understanding, are the subconscious trying to deal with what it's been through and, I have to say, you four boys have been through a lot in a very short space of time. Under a year in fact. It is no surprise you may be having difficulties adjusting. That does not make you weak, or any less of a turtle. Do you understand me?"

Donnie paused and nodded.

Splinter smiled and softly stroked the back of his sons shell. Donnie in turn leaned into the touch. "Now." The old rat said softly. "Would you like to tell me what the nightmare was about?"

"Which one?"

"…This one then the last one."

And so Donnie hesitantly explained the dream that was still painfully fresh in his mind, ending with. "Then he threw me into a pan of boiling water and I started screaming my head off."

"I am not surprised." Splinter said gravely. "It doesn't sound at all pleasant. Now…how about the one before?"

"Well…to be honest, Pops, I can't really remember. They were a little while ago, that and the fact I've actively been trying not to sleep and my memory's not too good at the moment. Sorry."

His father sighed. "Very well then. I would however, like to know what happened in order to make you so afraid of him you've basically been having chronic nightmares. I know you were kidnapped by him…did-" Splinter fought down an urge to throw up as his worse thoughts fluttered through his mind. "-Did he do anything else to you?"

Donnie gave him a blank look, clearly not understanding what his Pops was getting at. Thankfully Splinter was saved from having to go into detail as the penny dropped and Donnie said, with audible alarm. "Oh _shell_ no, nothing like _that_ Sensei! No…he just tied me up. And tried to roast me over a fire. But you know, the bro's…" Purple waved a hand in the vague direction of the door. "The bro's helped me out, so – yeah – I'm fine, really. Fine."

The old rat gave his son a look, hunting for any sign Donatello was hiding something. When he found none he sighed and said. "Very well. Just let it be known if you need to you can come to myself about anything alright? And – as a _minor_ side note – if you are, heaven forbid, ever kidnapped by Meat Sweats or any other villain again I WOULD like to know what happened to you. In that aspect ignorance is not bliss. Now-" Splinter held out his arms. "Shall we hug?"

Donnie grinned and threw his arms around his pops, nearly crushing him in the process. But, Splinter thought, as long as his son was happy he supposed the crushing pain in his ribs was bearable.

Outside the door Red, Blue and Orange fist-bumped.


	15. Better is not enough

**Hey! I'm back. Thanks to Jeni125, BakaClara, Cheetachan and fireworksinthenight for reviewing the last chapter. We're nearly at 60 people, c'mon!**

 **Once again, I've had issues with phrasing. Seems to be my thing lately. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.**

 **I'm not sure if the show has a specific timeline in regards to what time of year it is. In this fic it's near the end of the school year.**

 **I do not know anything about martial arts. Please take the descriptions in the chapter [and any of my other fics] with a pinch of salt.**

 **See chapter one for the disclaimer and let's go!**

"C'mon Mikey! Say uncle!" Leo said, as he pinned said brother in a headlock.

"Never!" Orange gasped, almost bent double.

"Well, how are you goin' to get out of this then? Hey? How?"

Mikey gave an impish grin. "Like this!" And with quick manoeuvring worthy of the Flash, he jabbed his elbow into his brothers side - making Leo lose his balance in the process – took the opportunity to wiggle his way out from under his brothers arm, and - once he was safely out of the headlock - swiped Blue's legs from under him making him fall on his shell in the process.

Raph gave a loud laugh, which was cut off by Splinter voice from the doorway.

"Nice work, Michaelangelo. You have clearly been practicing."

Leo groaned and sat up, just in time to see the pointed look his father was giving him. "…Point taken."

Splinter nodded and clapped his hands. "Now. Onto more important things. I would like to discuss Donatello."

"But he's not here." Mikey said, missing the point completely.

As Raph and Leo face-palmed, their Pops smiled. "That is precisely the point, Michelangelo. We need to discuss how we are going to help Donatello. He seems slightly stressed at the moment."

"That would probably be because he's trying to mess around with those tablets so Leo has some chance of havin' a normal sleep schedule." Raph said, jerking a finger at Blue to empathise his point.

Leo held his hands up. "Hey, I've been helping him with that! It's complicated, it'll take ages. It's not just a 24 hours job!" He said, unconsciously echoing the words his twin said to him the first time Blue had asked how long it would take.

Before an argument could take place, Splinter held his hand up. "That is good. However I meant more with fixing things ourselves. Like, Michelangelo, rather than taking your er…what's it called – Nitendo – to Purple to fix every time, why don't you try having a look at it first? Leo, you could do the same with your IPod. Raphael…" Splinter trailed off, trying to think of something Raph would need Donnie's help to fix. "…Well. You go without saying."

Red looked a little confused, but thankfully didn't argue or question further.

"So basically we don't bother him with unnecessary stuff." Leo said, simply. "Fair enough."

"Yeah…" Raph said, scratching the back of his head. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try and figure some stuff out on our own."

"But we still go to him for anything majorly important, right?" Orange checked, sounding a bit nervous. Upon receiving Splinters nod of affirmation, Mikey gave a sigh of relief and mimed whipping his brow. "Phew. That's good. Myself and technology do NOT go together."

"It might be an idea for you to at least _try_ and figure some of it out, Michelangelo." Their Pops said, firmly. "I do not want Donatello to feel he has to try and cope with everything on his own, do you understand?"

 _Translation: His nightmare scared the tail of me and I don't want to risk it happening again_. Mikey thought, as he gave a quick nod.

A pointed look at his other two sons had them nodding as well, and – satisfied –Splinter went back into the kitchen.

It was a small start, but it was a start.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile over at April's school the head teacher was looking over the official papers of his newest member of staff.

"Well everything seems to be in order. We'll want you to start at start of next year. Is that alright with you,?"

The tall man in front of him nodded. "That will be fine. I look forward to it."

The head teacher smiled back. "That's settled then. We will see you next year then. Welcome to President Kennedy's High School, Mr Oraku. We hope you will remain with us for a good many years."

Mr Oraku smiled and ran a slender finger along his jaw. "Don't worry. I intend to."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 **Yes! The Shredder has joined April's school…as a member of staff! I wonder how this will turn out?**

 **As you may have guessed by now I have basically taken the bull by the horns and gone somewhere completely different from canon with it.**

 **I've put on my profile a re-cap of the order of the stories up till now, if anyone's interested.**

 **There are two more stories [I think] in this grand plot I've got going now. Hopefully you'll enjoy them.**

 **See you next time!**


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